


the second hand of a clock

by TrainRush



Series: Febuwhump 2021 [5]
Category: A Hat in Time (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Gen, I SWEAR THERE IS NOTHING WEIRD IN HERE, Interrogation, Needles, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Rope Bondage, THESE TAGS MAKE THE FIC LOOK SO BAD, Truth Serum, enemies to confused enemies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-16 15:53:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29209926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrainRush/pseuds/TrainRush
Summary: DAY 5: ALT 1: truth serumHat Kid knew the Time Pieces were a bad influence, butthiswas going a little too far.—(or, alternatively, Hat Kid awakes to a surprise interrogation from Mustache Girl. somehow, both end up saying things they regret.)
Relationships: Hat Kid & Mustache Girl (A Hat in Time)
Series: Febuwhump 2021 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2105115
Comments: 2
Kudos: 31





	the second hand of a clock

Almost immediately as Hat Kid awoke from her nap, she could tell something was wrong.

Her day so far had been normal. She’d done plenty of work with the Conductor, mainly filming for his movie _Murder on the Owl Express,_ plus some costume work on the side. Not having known beforehand how tiring the work would get, she had asked the Conductor if she could take a nap somewhere on his train. She remembered the look of pity that crossed his face; he must not have realized that her being so young meant she got tired much faster than his other actors. Sharing some words of understanding, he had then guided her to a private suite near the back, where she had rested her head and promptly fallen fast asleep.

Now, though, she couldn’t feel the warmth of the blankets bundling her. Instead, there was only… pressure on her arms. And legs. And—

Hat Kid cracked open one eye for just a moment before both flew wide open.

Wrapping her arms, legs and wrists were tightly tied rope. She recognized quickly that she had been tied to a chair and looked around wildly for the culprit. Hat Kid attempted to open her mouth to yell, but it was taped shut, too. Laughter sounded from behind her. Oddly… _familiar_ laughter.

“Aha! You’re awake!”

Oh peck.

Sprinting out from behind her was none other than Mustache Girl, who looked very proud of herself. Excitement was plastered all over her face, and her eyes glittered with mischief.

“You remember me, right? Y’know, with the whole mafia… incident? And me breaking your Time Piece and then stealing half your Pons and then becoming mortal enemies, right?” She bounced from side to side as she spoke, watching Hat Kid glare at her.

“Who am I kidding, of course you do! I hope you didn’t go thinking I forgot about my mission.”

Then, from seemingly nowhere, she pulled a glittering Time Piece and held it in her hand. Hat Kid’s eyes widened in fear.

 _“Buuut_ eh, that’s for later.” Mustache Girl gave her a cheeky smile before tucking it away again. “Now, as for what I want with you…”

She pulled up another chair and sat in front of Hat Kid with a sly grin. “I want you to tell me some stuff.”

Suddenly, she ripped the tape off of Hat Kid’s face, who winced in pain. When she recovered, she continued to glare at Mustache Girl. “Oh yeah?” she retorted, frowning. “And how do you expect to get information out of me, huh?” If she could use her arms, she would have crossed them.

Mustache Girl then grinned in an odd way that sent a chill down Hat Kid’s spine. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small vial and needle, which glistened in the light of the room. Feeling her heart drop even further, Hat Kid shifted.

“What’s that?” Her voice was hesitant with anxiety.

“Oh, you know,” Mustache Girl chimed, “just a vial of truth serum. I stole it from one of those science-y owls on the train. They didn’t even notice!” She sounded proud of herself, but Hat Kid only felt even more terrified.

“Sooooo…” The girl in front of her stabbed at the bottle, slowly filling the needle with a dosage. Meanwhile, Hat Kid began to violently struggle against the ropes in a feeble attempt to escape. Eventually, Mustache Girl stopped filling the needle and glared at her. “Calm down, will you? Ugh, you’re so bothersome.”

She rose from where she was sitting and approached Hat Kid. Holding her in place, Mustache Girl jabbed the needle into Hat Kid’s arm, who hissed and swore in pain as the other injected the substance. Eventually, Mustache Girl took the needle from Hat Kid’s arm and returned back to her seat, glancing up at a clock in the corner of the room.

“Now, if I remember correctly from my research, it should take about five or so minutes to kick in.”

“And when does it wear off?”

“Ehhhh,” Mustache Girl thought for a moment, “I think an hour? Plenty enough time for questioning.”

Hat Kid growled, looking away in defiance. She hated this. She hated this so much. Where was Conductor when you needed him? Better question, did he seriously let Mustache Girl on his train?

“Sooo…” the girl in question began, “how are you?”

Hat Kid did not respond. Instead, she continued thinking. Mustache Girl had to have snuck on somehow, right? She literally tied up Hat Kid and stole from a scientist on board. There was no way a monitored passenger could do that and get away with it… right? If the Conductor actually had willingly let her on, Hat Kid would have to have a stern talk with him about safety… or something like that. Would she get to yell at him like he yelled at his actors? ...She didn’t want to test it. 

“Hellooooo? Can you hear me?”

Come to think of it, the Conductor was a bit scary. Like, what kind of bird was he? Did he even have eyes? Maybe he did have eyes, but they were covered by his feathers. If he didn’t have eyes, how could he see? How could he know how to build his set designs and costumes and things? He wouldn’t be able to see colors, either, so why was everything so well coordinated? So he had to have some kind of colored vision, right? Or did he have someone help him with everything? But how would you even describe colors to a blind person? ‘Oh, red is like an apple.’ But how would you describe the color of an apple? _Passionate?_ Was that good?

“Hatty?”

Hat Kid snapped. “Okay, don’t call me that.”

“Aww, why not?” Mustache Girl tilted her head and pouted.

“Only my closest friends get to call me that.”

“Wait wait wait, that’s an _actual nickname? That people call you?_ Haha!” She appeared amused. “And who are your closest friends, huh?”

Hat Kid glared at Mustache Girl. “None of your business,” she said.

Or so she thought.

Instead, though, her words came out as “Bow and Timmy. We’ve known each other for forever.”

Hat Kid flinched.

Mustache Girl frowned, studying her expression, before slowly beginning to grin. “Is it working? Ooh, ooh! Is it working?”

~~“No.”~~

“Yes.”

Hat Kid mentally swore at herself.

Jumping up and down, Mustache Girl grinned eye to eye. “Aw hell yeah! Ok… ummm… hm.” She thought for a moment, tapping a finger on her chin in contemplation.

Hat Kid, meanwhile, might as well have imploded on herself with stress.

“Oh!” Mustache Girl’s eyes lit up. “Okay, where do you keep your Time Pieces?”

~~“None of your business.”~~

“In the main room of my spaceship, in the large vault.”

Hat Kid, again stunned by the sharpness of the serum, hissed at Mustache Girl, who had begun taking notes on a piece of paper. “Peck you.”

She looked up. “‘Peck?’ What is that, a bird swear?” She snorted. “Well, ‘peck’ you, too.” Pause. _“Aaaanyways…_ what’s the password to that vault?”

~~“Screw you.”~~

“903267.”

Mustache Girl’s eyes widened, impressed, before quickly jotting down the number. “Wow, okay, I didn’t actually expect that one. Thanks, Hatty!”

“I said stop calling me that.”

“Sorry, but I don’t really care. Instead, care to tell me anything else about the Time Pieces? Can I do anything else with them besides turn back time?”

~~“You don’t know what you’re doing.”~~

“Time Pieces can be used to shift the timeline completely to the user’s will. Even just one could send someone to a different reality of their choosing completely, if they wanted.”

Mustache Girl scribbled her notes again before pausing. “You know, I didn’t actually expect this to be _that easy._ Are you playing with me? Are you lying to my face?”

~~“Yes.”~~

“No.”

She shrugged. “Oh well, I can just ask the same questions again later to make sure everything’s right.” Pause. “Why couldn’t we have just stayed friends? We could have been crime fighting time travelers! Why didn’t you want that?”

~~“You have no pecking idea what you’re messing with.”~~

“Time Pieces are highly corruptive. You would end up going against your own word even if you didn’t want to. They twist the minds and morality of their targets and force them to commit acts of pure chaos. The only reason I’m not completely insane is because my species isn’t affected by them.”

Mustache Girl’s brows furrowed, and her eye twitched in shock and displeasure. “Then why do you need them?”

~~“Fuel.”~~

“Fuel for my spaceship. They work exceptionally well.”

She rolled her eyes. “Fuel? Are you kidding me? Why would you use a highly corruptive artifact of magic as _fuel?”_ Hat Kid opened her mouth to speak another truth, but Mustache Girl held up her hand. “Actually, don’t answer that. Waste of time. Anywho…” She thought for a moment, before her expression suddenly changed into something weirdly unreadable. “Do you hate me?”

~~“We’re literally enemies.”~~

“I hate what you’ve done, but I’m more concerned for the path you’re going down than anything else.”

Mustache Girl appeared oddly… _hurt_ for a second, before her expression quickly changed into a frown and glare. “I’m just doing what’s best for everyone by fighting all the bad guys. I’m not going down any _‘dark dangerous road’_ or whatever. You’re so dramatic.”

 _“I’m_ dramatic?” Hat Kid hissed, recoiling a bit and tilting her head.

 _“I_ just want to leave an impression. _You’re_ dramatic in the… the _annoying_ way.” Hat Kid scoffed. “Anyways. Next point.” Mustache Girl sat up in her chair, fixing her posture. “Where are you going to search for your Time Pieces next?”

~~“Some creepy place.”~~

“Subcon Forest.”

“Subcon?” Mustache Girl repeated, arching a brow. “Don’t people, like, go there to _die_ or whatever? Isn’t it super dangerous? And isn’t there some eldritch abomination living there or something?”

“I’ll figure it out.”

She groaned in annoyance. “C’mon, you’re gonna make me follow you into _there?”_

“I never said you had to come.” Hat Kid smirked a little.

“Oh, shut up,” Mustache Girl snapped, but Hat Kid could tell she wasn’t entirely upset. “Next question. Who’s the weird dude that runs this train?”

~~“If you’re asking me what type of bird he is-“~~

“The Conductor. He’s both the conductor of this train and a movie director. I’m starring in one of his movies.”

Mustache Girl’s expression became mischievously curious. “And why are you here, hm? Are there, perhaps… any Time Pieces here?”

~~“I’m not sure.”~~

“Probably. The Conductor has a couple.”

Her eyes glittered. “Is he armed?”

Hat Kid remembered watching him pull two knives from his coat to relieve some weight for an action scene. ~~“Very.”~~ “Yes. Two knives.”

Mustache Girl scoffed. For a moment afterwards, there was a bit of quiet between the two as she considered what to do next. For that moment, she had looked away, thinking, until that same unreadable expression crossed her face again. She seemed to sit on this thought — whatever thought it was that brought her to this state — for a second, before hesitantly asking a question that Hat Kid had never expected to hear out of her mouth.

“Do you think about me as often as I think about you?”

Hat Kid’s eyes widened.

~~“What do you mean?”~~

“What do you mean?”

Mustache Girl flushed for a moment before shaking her head. “Like, we’re enemies! Rivals! No, more than rivals — you’re my arch nemesis! I’m constantly plotting how to one-up you and how to sabotage your adventures and take your Time Pieces for myself so I can fight evil! Do… do you think of me that often?”

Hat Kid wasn’t sure how to respond. This wasn’t what she was expecting at all. Slowly, she opened her mouth to say something.

~~“I don’t know.”~~

“I wonder what you’re doing sometimes, sure, but I’m mostly busy with other things. Focusing on them. Working at my own pace. I’m your arch nemesis, sure, but only part-time.”

Mustache Girl appeared conflicted now. She looked as though she wanted to say something but couldn’t find it in herself to say it. Again, there was a long period of silence between the two, in which Mustache Girl could no longer look Hat Kid in the eyes. She glanced down at the notes in her hands, then at the wall, and then to the door.

“Well!” She stood from where she was sitting and she smiled, though Hat Kid could tell something was off in her smile. “It was a pleasure getting your secrets out of you!”

Mustache Girl finally looked Hat Kid in the eyes now, but her eyes were narrowed and communicated a strange emotion that she couldn’t recognize. Then, before she could study them any more, Mustache Girl walked away. The girl had already skipped her way to the door when Hat Kid called out to her.

“Are you at least gonna untie me?”

Mustache Girl considered for a moment, then shook her head.

“Nah. You’re pretty capable. Or maybe that Conductor guy will help you.” She opened the door. “Later!”

And just like that, Mustache Girl was gone, leaving Hat Kid alone tied to the chair. She shook her head. _What on earth was that all about? And what were those questions?_

Hat Kid sighed. At this point, she just hoped someone would untie her soon.


End file.
